The Zimbabwe African People's Union party plans on protesting against against North Korea's training camp before the World Cup because of North Korea's role in the massacres of up to 40,000 Zimbabwean civilians in the 1980s. The massacres were done by an army brigade trained by North Korean instructors in western Zimbabwe's Matabeleland province.

"We have not forgiven them for that," Methuseli Moyo, spokesman for the ZAPU told AP. "We are totally opposed to the North Koreans coming to any part of Zimbabwe. We don't want them here. We are going to follow them [to Harare] and demonstrate against them."

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe is a longtime ally of North Korea. Sports Minister David Coltart said the Zimbabwe government must not do anything do anything inflame passions or reopen old wounds. But he added: "I don't think it is right to attack a group of young players for what happened 27 years ago in this country."